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New York City Council member, Charles Barren, is known for his uncompromising beliefs—in Black liberation and empowerment.
Although he's dubbed "controversial" because of his leftist ideas, his complete dedication to the Black community is just what we need in a leader.
When I envisioned New York City council members, I thought of middle-aged white males in expensive suits, ignoring the real issues that plague our communities. The few Black men who were allowed to be tokens would only be reinforcers of the ideas of their White male co-workers and would continue to ignore our plight.
My ignorance lead to a shocking realization that there is indeed hope for radical change. This dawned on me after a comment by Barron to assembled media last Wednesday over the issue of his chief of Staff Viola Plummer, who was dismissed – a judge will rule on the validity in September- by Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
After Barron and others failed to get the necessary votes to have a section of Gates Avenue in Brooklyn changed to honor Black nationalist Sonny Carson – a measure Quinn had opposed and campaigned against, claiming Carson had been "anti-white" – Plummer allegedly called for the destruction of the political career of Leroy Comrie, a Black councilmember who abstained from voting; "assassinate his ass," was the term Plummer allegedly used.
Barron says Quinn's action against Plummer was simply because she had joined those who defied the Council Speaker. "Black people are not supposed to get angry with whites when they abuse their power, we're not supposed to get angry, we're supposed to take it quietly," Barron declared.
The fact that Barron was conscious enough to conclude that Quinn might have felt threatened by a challenge to her assumed White matriarchy and realized the submissive role that some whites wish for Black people to play, made me interested in learning more about this man. He made the remarks openly before a sea of white media; without hesitation at all and made it clear that race is an issue in this situation.
I wonder how this former Black Panther is able to fight for on a daily basis in the political world of white patriarchs and Black puppets. I was even more pleased when I read more about Barron's views and realized that his stances are ideal for Black empowerment.
Barron maintains that government and the police have been enemies not allies of the Black community. What kind of politician could say that the government is our enemy? A politician that strives for betterment and Black empowerment.
Barron even refuses to say the pledge of allegiance because it is contradictory to the true conditions of America and certainly there is no "liberty and justice for all." Barron's stance reminds me of myself in high school--the only 10th grader that refused to pledge allegiance.
Barron is an advocate against police brutality within our communities and realizes that crime is not the fault of the Black community but is directly correlated to our economic condition. Crime is a manifestation of poverty, deprivation and lack of opportunities.
This idea is different from those of some elitist Blacks who believe poor Blacks are solely responsible for their conditions and should "pull themselves up by their boot straps."
Barron knows that crime can only be reduced by economic advancement rather than throwing our men in jail—after miseducation. He realizes that augmenting police forces, building more jails, and passing stricter laws will only put a band-aid on our problems instead of addressing the conditions of malaise.
He has been a fearless activist for years. In 1987, Barron was arrested with more than 70 others after demonstrating against racism in the city during the "day of unrest." He spent 45 days in jail. Years earlier, in 1982, Barron was arrested after he physically removed a white historian who had been appointed chief archivist for the The Schomburg Center Library for Black History.
Barron's actions prove that he maintains a "by any means necessary" mentality when fighting injustice. He doesn't just rant and complain about what needs to be done for our community; he takes actions. He's not afraid of defying the law.
Barron not only concerns himself with the plight of Black Americans but takes a keen and active interest on the African continent. In 2003, Barron along with other politicians, went to Zimbabwe for a fact-finding tour to assess the impact of the land redistribution program. Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe had finally seized land from the white farmers who stole them during the colonial era, and shared them amongst landless Africans. Mugabe had been widely vilified and demonized in white corporate media by writers and editors who empathized with their kith and kin.
Barron is a true Pan-Africanist with an understanding of his connectedness with all Blacks throughout the Diaspora.
Most corporate media outlets depict Barron as a "racist, angry Black man." These media have no interest in Black betterment nor do they appreciate the extent of the abysmal conditions faced by the Black underclass.
Since Barron does not strive to keep the rich richer or play the uncle tom role, he is automatically depicted as a threat.
Those who challenge the system and go against the white elite are seen as a threat to the white American patriarchal structure.
Yet, change can only come by having more people following in Barron's path and going against the system.
To subscribe to or advertise in New York's leading Pan African weekly investigative newspaper, please call (212) 481-7745 or send a note to firstname.lastname@example.com
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Today we celebrate the half century anniversary of Tony Award winning American musical Sweet Charity.
In January 1966, The Nederlanders turned New York City's famed Palace Theatre into a legitimate theatrical stage for the opening of Sweet Charity conceived, staged and choreographed by Bob Fosse starring Gwen Verdon.
Gwen Verdon played the title role of Charity Hope Valentine, a taxi dancer at a dance hall called the "Fan-Dango Ballroom" in Times Square, New York City.

subset: commoncrawl


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English Audio/French Subtitles
No Subtitles/Dubbed in French
Screencaps and Allocine players under the CUT. Thanks to RPLife
More screencaps under the CUT.
This blog is in no way affiliated with Rob, Kristen, Stephenie Meyer, or their management. All photos and media are copyrighted to their respective owners, no copyright infringement is intended.


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Convicted killer Luke Miller has spent the last 10 years in a Scottish prison for the 2003 murder of his 14-year-old girlfriend Jodi Jones, a crime he insists he didn't commit. So his supporters have been lobbying that a polygraph test indicating his innocence be made public to draw attention to his case, in hopes that the courts might reconsider his sentence—or even set him free.
It's now on YouTube, marking perhaps the first time a prison-issued polygraph test has been posted online.
Administered last April by British Polygraph Association secretary Terry Mullins, the test is actually two and a half hours long. The video you can watch is 17 minutes of tense questioning. Focus is very apparent on Mitchell's face and body, both rigid and unmoving. And you can't blame him, because his life is quite literally on the line. The proctor starts out with simple questions like "are we in the exam room?" and later moves on to what prosecutors really want to know—"Did you stab Jodi on June 30, 2003?" Every question is repeated several times through the course of the exam. And according to Mullins, Mitchell, who asserts his innocence is telling the truth.
Watch the video. It's eerie—a far cry from the lie detector melodramas we see in the movies. Every polygraph test is filmed, but they're almost never released. But this video could absolve Mitchell of guilt and give him his freedom. The Independent says the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission is taking a look at Mitchell's case, thanks in part to this video going public. [The Independent, Luke Mitchell Is Innocent via DailyDot]


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There are a lot of people out there, and a lot of guilds for that matter, that just flat out hate alts. I don't know if they've had a rotten experience with them or just enjoy a monogamous relationship with their main toon, but the result is often the same: someone says "alt" and you can just see them cringe. It does not matter who is behind the character, they just don't want to deal with an alt.
I think that this is the wrong attitude to have, and that there are a lot of benefits that a guild can enjoy from fostering the growth of their alts.
I thank that the most common misperception people have is just downright assuming that alts are bad. I just don't buy it. Bad alts are usually tied to bad players. A player that is exceptional at their main is probably going to be, at a minimum, competent at their alt. A player that is poor on their main is likely to be poor at their alt as well, although I have met the rare player where they performed so well on their alt you wonder why it is not their main.
To be fair, I have met my fair share of terrible alts.
A person with terrible situational awareness on their main is probably not going to be knocking anyone's socks off as a tank, where situational awareness plays a huge role. A person that struggles with DPS on their main is likely going to suffer from the same maladies that cause them to perform poorly, regardless of what class they are playing. That being said, there are often many things that carry over from a person's main that many times will make their alt a stronger performer than others regardless of their gear. Things that aren't "taught" by studying spell rotations and gearing choices. Things like knowing when to get out of the bad stuff!
Why am I bringing this up? Because I believe that there is a lot of value in taking the time to gear alts within a guild, even in a progression focused raiding guild.
Let's take my raid last night as an example. We were working HM Anub. It's a pretty strict encounter that hugely favors having at least 3 paladins in your raid for their Hand of Protection ability during the kite phases. My guild has a total of 3 paladins on our progression roster. This means that if we are missing one of them, we are missing a key component to the fight.
However, Because we support and encourage things like "alt runs" we happen to have a number of well geared, competent, paladin alts that are able to "fill in". Of those alts, two of them are holy and geared enough to heal this particular encounter. Of those two, one is our anub tank…and one is me, a healer. If we wanted to put some work in on the fight last night, someone needed to switch over, and the answer seemed pretty blatent: a healer for a healer.
While I was largely unhappy (read: downright pissy) about having to switch over to Dannie because I wanted to have time to work on my phase 3 job with Beru, I recognized the benefit that it provided to the guild's learning night to have that third paladin. I recognized the benefit of having two holy paladins on our tanks. So I shelved my unhappiness about the situation and logged over, enabling us to continue to work through the fight. Whether I wanted to admit it or not at the time, I was happy that we had the option of having someone to swap over to fill a key role even open to us.
Last night isn't the first time that we've utilized alts to help fill gaps in our raids. It's just the most recent example of how we were able to facilitate a raid that might have otherwise ended up being called by bringing in an alt to fill the missing role. I think that being able to do this is a hugely valuable asset to a guild.
However, if we didn't encourage alt growth, it might not have been an option that was available to us. The reason that my paladin was able to step up in a pinch was because we took the time to schedule things on off nights like "alt raids" or to let alts come into farmed content where we are after just a few items for a few mains before removing the content from our raid schedule. These opportunities not only geared our alts, but it exposed them to a variety of 25 man content and gave them the chance to improve on their performance. Because of this, my paladin is almost as well geared as a lot of mains and I have a good amount of competency healing with her.
Understanding how other classes work will help you grow overall as a player.
Another real value in encouraging alt growth, at least in my opinion, is that understanding other roles makes you a better player all around. As a druid you can't really appreciate the mobility you have as a healer until you've tried to heal on a class with almost no mobility, such as a paladin or a shaman. As a tank you don't fully appreciate what your healers experience until you try to heal, and vice versa. I truly think that trying different things gives you a whole new perspective on different aspects of the game.
I have 4 healers. Part of this is because I truly enjoy healing, but part of it is because I wanted to be educated in the strengths and weaknesses of each class so that I could better prepare healing assignments. In addition to my healers, I also have a mage at level 80 and my fledging tank creeping her way to 80. Each of these characters has given me a different perspective of the game, and each one has taught me something new and made me a better player as a whole.
While I understand that a lot of people don't have the time/patience/desire to level alts, I do think that it helps a person grow as a player. I am happy that our guild has so many strong alts to help us out in a pinch, be it in 10 mans or 25s.
What do you think? Do you find alts valuable assets to a guild or a bothersome pain that you wish you didn't have to deal with?


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Incredible India should start to look beyond old & tired events like Pushkar Festival & the Alleppey Boat race towards the new-age events of a new-age India.
The world does this well..using contemporary local events to showcase tourism. Watch this great culinary plug from Tourism Australia using The Margaret River Gourmet Escape.
Here are some of the more interesting recent events that Incredible India ought to be using in all their promotions:
World Sufi Spirit Festival in Jodhpur
Escape Festival in Naukuchiatal


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Guests: Robert Reich, Jared Bernstein, Stephen Moore, David Freddoso, Penda Hair, Penda Hair, David Freddoso, Tammy Duckworth
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, GUEST HOST: Numbers game.
Let`s play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I`m Michael Smerconish, in for Chris Matthews.
Leading off tonight: Spin cycle. It`s become a monthly ritual.
Weaker than expected jobs numbers come out, Mitt Romney says President
Obama is failing, the president says he`s making progress. And so it was
today when we learned that only 80,000 jobs were created last month and the
unemployment rate held firm at 8.2 percent. How`s it all going to play in
November? That`s our top story.
Despite the weak jobs numbers, Republicans are increasingly nervous
that Mitt Romney is kicking away a winnable election. It began with a
tweet from Rupert Murdoch and is spreading throughout his media empire.
And now a lot of conservatives, who never liked Romney, are saying, I told
you so.
Also, remember when Pennsylvania`s Republican house majority leader
said voter ID laws would help Mitt Romney win the election? Here`s what he
was talking about. A new study shows that three quarters of a million
people in the state don`t have the proper identification, and most of them
are likely Democratic voters.
And not even Scarlet O`Hara said the name Ashleigh so much.
REP. JOE WALSH (R), ILLINOIS: Hey, look, Ashleigh...
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You told...
WALSH: Ashleigh, Ashleigh, Ashleigh...
WALSH: What`s not respectful, Ashleigh?
WALSH: Ashleigh, I`ll say it again...
SMERCONISH: That`s Joe Walsh with Ashleigh Banfield, trying to defend
his position that Tammy Duckworth is not a hero. Duckworth lost both legs
fighting in Iraq, and she joins us tonight. And our Joe Walsh highlight
reel. Exactly how many times did Joe Walsh say the name "Ashleigh"? Stick
around for the "Sideshow."
We begin with today`s jobs report. Robert Reich was labor secretary
during the Clinton administration and Jared Bernstein served as the chief
economist to Vice President Biden.
Mr. Secretary, let me start with you. Before we get to the politics
of it, explain to me the substance. What`s going on? What does it mean in
the big picture?
ROBERT REICH, FORMER CLINTON LABOR SECRETARY: Essentially, Michael,
growth has stalled. It`s 8.2 percent unemployment, same as last month.
But we also would see that 80,000 jobs were created in June. That`s
nothing to crow about. The average monthly job growth of the last three
months has been about 75,000 jobs, a substantial decline from the job
numbers that we saw in January, February and March.
Now, it`s a similar slowdown to a slowdown we have seen in previous
years. The hope, obviously, is that we get more job growth later in the
year. That`s a hope both economically an politically. But it`s very hard
to make good news out of today`s job numbers.
SMERCONISH: Mr. Bernstein, where is it headed? I think we`re all
aware of the statistic that says since World War II, no president`s been
reelected when the unemployment rate was north of 7.4 percent. Is it
likely that 8.2 could get under 7.4 between now and November?
JARED BERNSTEIN, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIST TO V.P. BIDEN: Absolutely
not. You never know, but that is way outside anyone`s forecast. The most
optimistic forecasts I`ve seen do have the unemployment rate trending down
a bit below 8 percent by the end of the year.
But frankly, between now and then, absent some very important and
necessary economic policy to generate more job growth, which gridlock will
probably block, it`s hard to see things change that much.
SMERCONISH: Let`s talk about the politics. This morning, Governor
Romney was quick to pounce on the jobs numbers and attack the president and
his policies. Take a look.
MITT ROMNEY (R-MA), FMR. GOV., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The
president`s policies have not gotten America working again, and the
president`s going to have stand up and take responsibility for it. I know
he`s been planning on going across the country and celebrating what he
calls "forward." Well, forward doesn`t look a lot like forward to the
millions and millions of families that are struggling today in this great
country. Doesn`t have to be this way. America can do better. And this
kick in the gut has got to end.
SMERCONISH: The president also mentioned the jobs numbers in his
speech this morning in Poland, Ohio.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We learned this morning
that our business has created 84,000 new jobs last month, and that overall
means that businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28
months, including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs.
OBAMA: That`s a step in the right direction. That`s a step in the
right direction. But we can`t be satisfied because our goal was never to
just keep on working to get back to where we were back in 2007. I want to
get back to a time when middle class families and those working to get into
the middle class had some basic security. That`s our goal.
SMERCONISH: Mr. Secretary, to use a golfing metaphor, is it time for
the president to put aside the 9 iron and bring out the driver? Does he
need to do something more bold relative to the economy?
REICH: I think so, Michael. You know, it`s hard for the president,
obviously. He is correct. He was dealt a terrible hand, the worst economy
since the Great Depression. He, though -- I think he is going to have to
say something more than, We are making progress, it`s slow progress, I was
dealt a bad hand. Now he`s got to be a bit bolder, I think...
SMERCONISH: What might that be?
REICH: Well, he could say, you know, We`re going to have a -- if I
get the votes -- I mean, obviously, Republicans are not going to give him
any votes. But he can say, If and when I do get the votes, we`re going to
have a new Works Progress Administration, a Civilian Conservation Corps.
We`re going to rebuild the nation`s infrastructure. We`re going to
rebuild education. We are going to have a first class nation in every
respect. We`re going to put people back to work. We`re going to fight and
keep fighting for average working people. And he can come up with other
things, as well.
Now, again, Republicans are going to say, as they have already said,
We are not going to spend any more money. The president can say, What
about a middle class tax cut? What about exempting the first $20,000 of
income from the Social Security payroll tax?
I mean, I, president of the United States, am not going to stop making
new proposals simply because the Republicans just say no.
SMERCONISH: Mr. Bernstein, do you...
REICH: He can do a lot of things.
SMERCONISH: Do you agree with the secretary? Do you think that the
president needs to do something more bold than he has done? I mean, you
look at the polls right now, they`re neck and neck. And I think that
Governor Romney is coasting along, being the other guy thus far. How do
you see the politics?
BERNSTEIN: I agree with your analysis. And I like Bob Reich`s ideas.
I think that`s precisely the kind of thing the president should talk about.
Now, he doesn`t need to introduce, necessarily, a bunch of new things.
He can say absolutely correctly, I`ve got ideas that I`ve been trying to
promote on Capitol Hill now for well over a year, and some of them are just
really good common sense. For example, we know that last month, we shed
14,000 jobs in local education -- 23 out of the last 25 months the public
sector has shrunk.
Now, you should go forward at a time like this and say, Folks, these
are your teachers. These are your police. These are your firefighters.
And one of the programs that was most effective in terms of getting
medicine into the system quickly and helping communities to retain those
kinds of jobs was fiscal relief to the states.
Then -- and you were both kind of getting at this. Then it`s
absolutely the case that the president has to explain to people who is
standing directly between them and a better economy, better opportunities
and more jobs, and that would be the Congress.
SMERCONISH: I`ll be curious to see whether he makes this a campaign
against the Congress, meaning, You`ve got to give me back control of the
Let me show you a commercial. Crossroads GPS is up with this new ad
today in battleground states, going after the president`s economic record.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: America`s jobless rate is still too high.
Barack Obama`s got lots of excuses for the bad economy.
OBAMA: Headwinds coming from Europe.
We`ve had a string of bad luck.
An earthquake in Japan.
An Arab spring.
An ATM. You don`t go to a bank teller.
Some things that we could not control.
You go to the airport and you`re using a kiosk.
We`ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Obama never blames Washington`s wild
spending and skyrocketing debt. Tell Obama, for real job growth, cut the
debt. Support the New Majority Agenda at NewMajorityAgenda.org.
SMERCONISH: Mr. Secretary, react to that spot. There is this
narrative that the Republicans, I think, have effectively woven together of
all the debt having been incurred on his watch because of his big spending.
REICH: Well, first of all, it`s factually incorrect. We know that a
lot of that debt comes from the Bush tax cuts. A lot of it comes from the
Medicare drug benefit created by George W. Bush. And a lot of it comes
from cleaning up the mess the Republicans created and Wall Street created.
But beyond that, Mitt Romney is in absolutely no position to talk
about whittling the debt down when he`s advocating a gigantic tax cut for
the wealthy that he`s not going to even pay for. He hasn`t even shown how
he was going to close whatever loopholes he said he`s going to close.
So it`s a both dishonest and hypocritical message. I think Democrats
ought to be standing up to it and saying that that it is dishonest and
hypocritical, and blaming Romney for having not a single new idea for
bringing jobs back, not a single idea.
SMERCONISH: Mr. Bernstein, what I see feeding that narrative --
whether it`s fact or fiction, we can discuss, but even if it is fiction --
is the Supreme Court decision having been upheld constitutionally as a
taxing authority of the Congress. I can tell you, I answer the phone for a
living. You know, I host a radio program where I hear from people who say,
See that? I knew I was going to get whacked with a tax to pay for "Obama
And largely, the people who are calling and asserting that have health
insurance and won`t be subjected to a penalty.
BERNSTEIN: You know, I heard the same thing from a friend of my
sister`s. Look, it`s -- at this point, you really need to do an
information campaign. And just like Bob was saying, it`s not that we
should have a discussion about whether it`s fact or fiction. It is
I mean, I`ve crunched the spending numbers myself. And the fact this
-- and the Congressional Budget Office, nonpartisan, very clear on this
point, that this penalty -- it`s really a freeloader penalty for people who
can afford to get insurance but don`t, and therefore shove those costs onto
the rest of us -- is expected to hit 1 percent of the population. And if
you have insurance, it`s not going to ding you one bit.
SMERCONISH: Mr. Secretary, the sales job has been terrible by the
White House on that point. I don`t deny what Jared Bernstein is saying,
but I don`t think that the White House has carried the ball in that regard.
REICH: No, I don`t think so at all. I mean, I think that the White
House has basically allowed the individual mandate and the Supreme Court`s
kind of tax discussion to carry the day.
I mean, Mitt Romney was saying that this is not a tax until very
recently, and "Romney care" in Massachusetts has exactly the same
individual mandate. I mean, again, what the White House needs to do, it
seems to me, and Democrats, elected Democrats, others need to do is call it
for what it is. I mean, it is -- this is about paying your fair share.
It`s about participating in a national health system.
You will get it back. If younger and healthier people have got to pay
into it, they are going to get it back when they are older and less
healthy. I mean, this is -- this is -- this is all of us in it together,
rather than the Republican view of all of us basically separate and apart.
SMERCONISH: Allow me to show you something that the president said in
an interview with the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati. President Obama laid
into Mitt Romney for his health care mandate language flip-flop earlier
this week. The president questioned Romney`s principles.
OBAMA: The fact that a whole bunch of Republicans in Washington
suddenly said, This is a tax -- for six years, he said it wasn`t, and now
he`s suddenly reversed himself. And so the question becomes, Are you doing
that because of politics? Are you abandoning a principle that you fought
for for six years simply because you`re getting pressure for two days?
SMERCONISH: Jared Bernstein, quick final thought from you on what you
just watched.
BERNSTEIN: Oh, this is -- we are deep into the silly season, my
friends. I mean, this is one of the most inane debates we`ve had so far.
Look, if people who don`t pay this penalty -- people who can afford to get
insurance but don`t, are placing an implicit tax on the rest of us who have
to cover their uncompensated costs.
Romney understands this. It was part of his "Romney care," and now
it`s part of the health care plan. So this is very, very simple and it
shouldn`t be nearly as confusing as it`s been.
SMERCONISH: Thank you to Robert Reich. Thank you to...
REICH: And Michael, with regard to -- with regard to flip-flopping, I
mean, Mitt Romney is not just a flip-flopper. I mean, he is a double
somersault triple double dip flip-flopper. I mean, this guy has been all
over the map on every single issue. And I think that is an important
quality to bring out to make people understand that it is an aspect of
SMERCONISH: Mr. Secretary, thank you, Robert Reich. Jared Bernstein,
as well.
BERNSTEIN: Thank you, Michael.
SMERCONISH: Coming up: Republicans are increasingly worried that Mitt
Romney is blowing what could have been a winnable election, and there are a
lot of people on the right who never liked Romney, saying, See, I told you
so. That`s ahead.
This is husband, the place for politics.
SMERCONISH: We`ve got a couple of new polls this week from
battleground states in the presidential race, and for that, we check the
HARDBALL "Scoreboard."
We begin in Florida, the biggest battleground of them all, and a new
We Ask America poll has President Obama hanging onto a 1-point lead over
Mitt Romney, 46 to 45. Now to North Carolina, where Republican-leaning
Civitas (ph) poll shows Romney with a 5-point lead over the president, 50
to 45.
We`ll be right back.
SMERCONISH: Welcome back to HARDBALL. It began with a few tweets
from Rupert Murdoch advising Mitt Romney to shake up his staff and also
admonishing him over his play-it-safe campaign approach. Yesterday, "The
Wall Street Journal," which is owned by Murdoch, published a blistering
editorial. It said that Romney was, quote, "slowly squandering an historic
opportunity to unseat Obama, given the state of the economy."
Conservatives like "The Weekly Standard`s" Bill Kristol and radio host
Laura Ingraham also piled on. Here was Ingraham taking Romney to task for
his vacation in New Hampshire.
LAURA INGRAHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: This is the advisers telling
him, Oh, it`s fine, take a week. You know, there`s no week to spare! We
have a country to save!
Should Romney call the ceasefire or get out there on the trail and get
off the jet-ski?
SMERCONISH: So what`s going on, and how concerned should the
Republican candidate be? Ed Rendell is the former governor of Pennsylvania
and an MSNBC political analyst and Stephen Moore is on the "Wall Street
Journal" editorial board. He`s the senior economics writer.
Governor, if the criticism were coming from Salon.com and "The New
Republic," you know, you and I wouldn`t be here having this conversation.
ED RENDELL (D), FMR. PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: Right.
SMERCONISH: So of what...
RENDELL: No question about it, but -- go ahead, Michael. I`m sorry.
SMERCONISH: I was going to say, so of what significance, if any, is
this in showing problems that persist with Romney`s base?
RENDELL: Well, I think, first of all, we`ve got to keep things in
perspective. In terms of voters, this criticism has no meaning at all.
First of all, it`s in the dead of the summer, when no one`s paying
attention to politics except all of us.
Secondly, it`s inside baseball. Voters will be concerned about how
the campaign goes from September on. Voters will be concerned about the
convention speeches and the three (ph) debate performances. Those are
opportunities where Mitt Romney, if he does great in his convention speech,
does great in the debates, all this will be a thing of the past.
So in term of voters, it doesn`t have any effect. Where it could hurt
Mitt Romney is among contributors, particularly conservative-based
SMERCONISH: It doesn`t hurt him last month. He had a $100-million
SMERCONISH: ... watermark for the Republicans.
RENDELL: No, I agree. But the criticism has really reached an apex
right now. That`s the only place it criticize -- it could hurt him. I
think right now, in term of the voters, the effect that this is going to
have on the eventual outcome -- all inside baseball.
SMERCONISH: Stephen, I`m sure you saw today`s "New York Times," which
reported on Romney east relationship with Rupert Murdoch, or rather, the
lack thereof.
Listen how "The Times" describes one of the earliest encounters, 2007,
when Romney met with Murdoch and members of "The Wall Street Journal"
editorial board. Quote, "Despite being deeply prepared and animated,
particularly on his love for data crunching, Mr. Romney failed to connect
with either Mr. Murdoch or `The Journal`s` editorial page editor, Paul
Gigot. Instead of articulating a clear and consistent conservative
philosophy, he dwelled on organizational charts and executive management.
At one point, Mr. Romney declared, `I would probably bring in McKinsey,`
the management consulting firm, to help him set up his presidential
cabinet, a comment that seemed to startle the editors and left Mr. Murdoch
visibly taken aback."
Tell us what the relationship is between the editorial board and
Governor Romney. You would think this is a natural constituency for this
STEPHEN MOORE, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, we`ve been very tough on
Mitt Romney. I know Mitt Romney personally. I like him. But we`ve found
a lot of faults in some of his positions. We didn`t like "Romney care" too
much. And what you`re doing the story on right now is the editorial we had
the other day, where we basically said, Look, Governor Romney, the game is
on. Let`s get going. It`s time to really take the gloves off and start
You know, I think one of the weaknesses of Mitt Romney`s campaign so
far has been that he`s allowed these attacks against Bain Capital, against
his business acumen and what he did when he was running that company. This
should be an asset. This is a guy who created whole new industries, who
provided the finances for companies that have created literally tens of
thousands of jobs, unlike the president, who`s never created a private
sector job.
That should be something he should be trumpeting, but he`s on the
defensive on this, so Obama`s running ads against him. And there`s been
very little positive response on that.
Let me respond to one thing that the governor said.
You know, Governor, I agree with you that this is kind of a slow
season for politics. A lot of people aren`t paying attention to this kind
of day-to-day combat. But I do think the major issue, as you know, is
going to be jobs. We had a lousy jobs report today. And what Mitt Romney
has to do, in my opinion, is really go after Obama much more aggressively
on his miserable jobs record.
SMERCONISH: Stephen, for those who missed the editorial, let me just
show a part of it.
This is the criticism from "The Wall Street Journal" yesterday. "The
Romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the White House by
saying the economy stinks and it`s Mr. Obama`s fault."
MOORE: Right.
SMERCONISH: "We`re on its e-mail list. And the main daily message
from the campaign is that Obama isn`t working. Thanks, guys, but Americans
already know that. What they want to hear from the challenger is some
understanding of why the president`s policies aren`t working and how Mr.
Romney`s policies will do it better."
Governor, is there a candidate problem? Is there a staff problem? Is
there neither? How do you assess that? There`s now a call for some
shakeup in the ranks of the Romney campaign.
RENDELL: Well, I can`t ever remember being associated with a campaign
where there wasn`t a call for a shakeup at some point during a campaign.
RENDELL: That`s the nature of the beast.
And, Stephen, no offense, I read the "Wall Street Journal" editorials.
But I think the average voter probably...
MOORE: That`s music to my ear.
RENDELL: It probably goes over their heads, the average voter.
MOORE: Yes, but you know what, Governor? You read it. And you know
who else reads it? I think the Mitt Romney people do. I think we got our
message across to them that...
RENDELL: I agree.
But, guys, remember, you want to save your best bullets for when the
nation is focused. And I agree you can`t let the summer go by, and he
certainly can`t coast in saying Obama hasn`t done a good job, vote for me.
He`s got to do more.
But what I would really start doing more is after the Democratic
Convention. I would come out with guns blazing for those remaining nine
weeks and really hit it hard.
SMERCONISH: But I think what Stephen`s looking to do...
SMERCONISH: I think, Governor, if I could just insert this, I think
what Stephen`s looking to do, meaning the board, the journalists, is wake
their candidate up so that, by Labor Day, he`s back driving the car.
MOORE: That`s right.
SMERCONISH: Am I right, Stephen?
RENDELL: I agree.
MOORE: Well, let me just say one thing.
RENDELL: Stephen`s point is exactly right that what Governor Romney
has to do is spell out what he would do differently. And that`s very, very
important, because it`s not good enough to say the other guy`s no good.
People want to hear what he wants to do.
MOORE: That`s true. That`s true. Now, he has a 57-point economic
plan. And one of the things that we have said is, you know what? You have
run many campaigns, Governor. You know this. You don`t want a 57-point
RENDELL: That`s 54 points too many.
MOORE: Exactly. And I think we agree on that. And I think it`s got
to be focused.
I think one of the areas where Governor Romney and the campaign
fumbled a little bit was in the aftermath of the Obamacare decision. They
couldn`t even answer the question whether it was a tax or was not a tax.
SMERCONISH: Hey, Governor, it`s not just "The Journal."
Let me show you Bill Kristol, the editor of "The Weekly Standard" --
quote -- "The Romney campaign`s monomaniacal belief that it`s about the
economy and only the economy, and that they need to keep telling us stupid
voters that it`s only about the economy has gone from being an annoying
tick to a dangerous self-delusion."
And I think you`re already starting to answer the question of does he
need to do more than be the other guy, Governor Rendell?
RENDELL: Oh, there`s no question about that.
And he shouldn`t -- sure, the economy`s the central issue, but he
should be heard on other stuff as well. There`s no question about that.
And I think, for example, regulations, we`re over-regulated, that`s a very
good theme. But he has to be specific.
He`s got to be willing to say what regulations are bad, how he would
change them and how he would speed up. I think the problem with
regulations is they take too gosh darn long to enforce. I think we have to
have a mechanism to speed up all of the things that are layered into our
regulation. That would get the economy humming. But he`s got to be
specific about that.
SMERCONISH: Stephen, final thought. Go ahead.
MOORE: ... he has to do, he has to take on Obamacare. This is now,
as you both know, going to be one of the two or three big issues in this
And the message from the Romney campaign has been a little muddled on
exactly how Romneycare is different from Obamacare.
MOORE: I know, in this debate, by the way, when those two debate, the
first thing that Barack Obama is going to say when this comes up is,
Governor Romney, how is Romneycare different from what I did on a national
level? He`s got to explain that to the American people.
SMERCONISH: Stephen, my final thought, if I might...
MOORE: Yes.
SMERCONISH: ... Rick Santorum got this right. Mitt Romney`s the
worst-suited person in terms of his credentials to make that case. And I
think that`s what`s about to unfold in those debates.
Anyway, gentlemen, thank you.
RENDELL: Except for one thing, if I could -- sorry.
SMERCONISH: Real quick, Governor. Hurry.
RENDELL: Just one thing.
If he can come up with a cogent replacement plan...
MOORE: There you go. Amen. Yes.
RENDELL: ... not just say, Obamacare, I`m going to repeal it.
You have got to come up with a cogent replacement plan.
MOORE: I agree. Totally agree. Totally agree.
SMERCONISH: On that, everybody agrees.
Governor Rendell, Stephen Moore, thank you, both.
MOORE: Thank you.
SMERCONISH: Up next: the Joe Walsh-Ashleigh Banfield highlight reel.
He sure loves saying her name.
And, by the way, you can follow me on Twitter, so long as you can
spell Smerconish. This is HARDBALL, the place for politics.
SMERCONISH: Back to HARDBALL. Time now for the "Sideshow."
When you think Brad Pitt, you probably don`t think conservative
values. And there`s a reason. In addition to being a big-time Hollywood
A-lister, Pitt has been a big supporter, among other things, of gay
marriage. But get this.
The actor`s mother, Jane Pitt, wrote a letter to a local Missouri
newspaper in response to an op-ed advising Christians not to vote for Mitt
Romney because of his Mormon religion.
Mrs. Pitt then wrote -- quote -- "Any Christian who doesn`t vote on
writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney`s opponent, Barack Hussein
Obama, a man who sat in to Jeremiah Wright`s church for years, did not hold
a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who
supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage."
I guess that`s why it`s a good rule of thumb to steer clear of
politics at family get-togethers, right? And this one has the added touch
of going viral.
Finally, Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh is drawing criticism for
blasting Tammy Duckworth, his Democratic challenger, in a congressional
race for using her military experience as a facet to her campaign. Walsh
spoke with CNN`s Ashleigh Banfield yesterday and gave new meaning to the
concept name-dropping.
REP. JOE WALSH (R), ILLINOIS: Because she`s a war hero, Ashleigh,
that demands our respect, but that doesn`t demand our vote. Ashleigh, this
wasn`t a slip-up. So, I don`t know about you, Ashleigh, but, right now,
Ashleigh, I can tell you I`m not going to back down.
WALSH: No, that`s not what I said, Ashleigh. Ashleigh, no.
Don`t you agree, Ashleigh.
WALSH: When was that, Ashleigh?
WALSH: Ashleigh, you did plenty of research...
WALSH: Hey, look, Ashleigh. Ashleigh. Ashleigh. Ashleigh.
What`s not respectful, Ashleigh? Oh.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In an attempt to...
WALSH: Ashleigh. Ashleigh. Ashleigh. Ashleigh, I will say it
Ashleigh, look, this is what happens when you have got a congressman
that`s always out in front of people talking.
SMERCONISH: All right, the final tally, Walsh said Ashleigh 90 times.
But let`s flash back to a year ago. Joe Walsh was on HARDBALL in the midst
of the whole debt ceiling debacle and had quite a strategy for avoiding the
specifics about a Tea Party-backed debt plan. You see where this is going?
WALSH: Hey, Chris, let me ask you a question . Do you support that,
WALSH: ... plan, Chris? We have to stop that, Chris. Come on,
Chris. Chris Matthews. Hey, Chris. Hey, Chris. Hey, Chris. Chris,
Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris.
I love it, Chris.
SMERCONISH: Well, 61, 61 name-drops for Chris when Walsh was on
HARDBALL. So he broke his own record with yesterday`s interview.
Tammy Duckworth will be with us later to program to weigh in on
Walsh`s recent comments.
Up next: voting rights and wrongs. A new study shows that three-
quarters of a million voters in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania
don`t have the proper identification to vote this November. And most of
them are likely Democratic voters. That`s ahead.
You`re watching HARDBALL, the place for politics.
SUE HERERA, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I`m Sue Herera with your CNBC "Market
A tough day on Wall Street today. The Dow fell 124 points, the S&P
shed 13, the Nasdaq down 39. As you heard earlier, payrolls rose by a
weaker-than-expected 80,000 in June. The unemployment rate held steady at
8.2 percent.
Some investors are worried that today`s report, while weak, wasn`t
weak enough to prompt the Fed to act any time soon. And speaking of jobs,
electronics retailer Best Buy is reportedly planning to eliminate 2,400
That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide, she tried to say --
and now back to Chris and HARDBALL.
SMERCONISH: Welcome back to HARDBALL.
When Pennsylvania`s Republican-led legislature passed one of the
nation`s toughest voter I.D. laws last March, Democrats said it was
designed to keep minorities, the young, the poor, in other words,
Democrats, from the polls.
But Governor Tom Corbett`s administration said it would affect just 1
percent of eligible voters. Well, new data released by the state puts that
number quite a bit higher. Nearly one in every 10 registered voters is
lacking the primary form of I.D. required to receive a ballot. That`s a
state`s driver`s license or alternative state I.D.
President Obama, you will remember, carried Pennsylvania in 2008 by 11
points. Now, the counties that he won are in blue. According to the new
data, the highest concentration of registered voters without state I.D. are
in Philadelphia -- you can see it circled -- that`s to the east -- and
Allegheny County, that`s Pittsburgh, to the west.
Both were Democratic strongholds in `08.
Penda Hair is co-director of the Advancement Project. And David
Freddoso, is the editorial page editor of "The Washington Examiner."
Mr. Freddoso, sometimes, you hear a story and it`s taking place far
from where you live and you`re not quite sure of what to make of it because
you`re not on the ground. This is not that story for me. I went to Wawa
this morning in the community where I was born and raised at 7:00, and I
got the local newspaper, and it speaks of how 70,000 voters in two
counties, Bucks and Montgomery County, where I have spent my entire life,
born in one, living in the other, are now in jeopardy.
And I can tell you, we have absolutely no history of voter fraud that
would justify jeopardizing 70,000 people from exercising the franchise.
What do you make of all this?
Well, I would start by backing up and looking at the larger picture
DAVID FREDDOSO, "THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER": First of all, the state is
sending out letters to just about everybody in this category that you have
mentioned who would be affected to explain what the new law does and what
sorts of voter I.D. are acceptable.
College I.D.s are generally acceptable for colleges in Pennsylvania.
Even if they don`t have expiration dates, the school can put one on in the
form of a sticker.
SMERCONISH: I don`t think these are college students we`re talking
FREDDOSO: Oh, now, hang on. I`m just starting here. Any sort of
military I.D., any driver`s license and the alternative form.
But the idea is that anyone can get one for free. And if they weren`t
doing that, then I think that it would be -- the fears might be a lot more
justified. But they`re making things as easy as possible here.
FREDDOSO: And, look, you don`t need a history of people, you know,
marching in en masse and the numbers in the thousands going in and voting
under other people`s names...
SMERCONISH: Well, what do you need?
FREDDOSO: ... in order to realize that, yes, it`s just common sense
that people should show who they are when they vote.
FREDDOSO: Mexico just had an election in which every voter had to do
SMERCONISH: I don`t have a problem with that. I don`t have a problem
with that. Let me just respond, if I might.
And then, Penda, I will come to you.
I don`t have a problem conceptually with the notion of showing an I.D.
before you vote, but you have got to be reasonable and take into account
the community that you`re serving and say, hey, what kind of an I.D. might
the folks who reside here possess?
And when I look in my hometown newspaper and I see that in the county
where I was born, 29,449 lack a driver`s license or state-issued non-
driver`s license, and then the county where I live now, 44,952, it really
brings it home for me.
Penda, what`s going on here?
PENDA HAIR, THE ADVANCEMENT PROJECT: Well, what`s going on is that
the state of Pennsylvania has passed one of the most onerous barriers to
voting that I have ever seen.
As you said, they knocked out three-quarters of a million voters or
more. That`s registered voters with one fatal swoop. And, for example,
we`re suing -- Advancement Project is suing over this law. And our case is
going to court in a couple of weeks.
And we are very, very hopeful that the court will strike this down,
because we have a 93-year-old plaintiff who marched with Martin Luther
King, who cannot get her birth certificate and therefore can`t get the ID.
This law disenfranchises students. It`s not true that their college
IDs are acceptable. It disenfranchises people that don`t drive --
FREDDOSO: That`s what the law says.
HAIR: -- who are mostly low income. Eighty-five percent of the
Pennsylvania colleges do not have an expiration date.
FREDDOSO: All they need is a sticker. That`s what the law says.
HAIR: And you have to do that for so many people in such a short
amount of time. This law was passed in March. There`s no way that you can
get an ID for close to a million people in this short of time.
SMERCONISH: I have to say, let me just get this in if I might. It
seems awfully coincidental and I`m not a believer in coincidence, that as
the country faces the re-election of the nation`s first African-American
president, you`ve got in excess of two dozen states going in a direction
they`ve never gone before.
FREDDOSO: In fact, these laws go back more than a decade at this
point. My home state of Indiana put one into effect I believe sometime the
middle of the last decade. I don`t believe in conspiracy theories.
SMERCONISH: I don`t normally. I don`t normally. You know, I think
we went to the moon and I don`t think much happened in Area 51 and I think
you know, Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone. But this
is pretty darn compelling.
FREDDOSO: Well, you know, again, it makes a lot of sense. The first
time I heard it wasn`t required, I wondered how in the world was that not
required. Every single voter who voted in the Mexican election that just
occurred had to show a photographic ID. Every one in Europe who votes --
in fact, the Pennsylvania law, there are some cases where people who have
religious objections to being photographed, they don`t actually need a
photo ID.
SMERCONISH: The Amish.
Let me share to you something. Because critics say that he voter ID
laws are a solution in search of a problem and that the real agenda is
tamping down Democratic turnout. Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike
Turzai took some heat last month when he included it in a laundry list of
Republican initiatives. Now, watch this.
STATE REP. MIKE TURZAI (R), PENNSYLVANIA: We are focused on making
sure that we meet our obligations that we`ve talked about for years. Pro-
second amendment, the castle doctrine is done. First pro-life legislation,
abortion facility regulations in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is going
to allow governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania. Done.
SMERCONISH: Voter ID, which will allow Governor Romney to win
Pennsylvania. That would seem to bring down the balance, wouldn`t it, that
this is about voter suppression and not ballot security?
HAIR: Absolutely. We know, he admitted why this was enacted and we
know there is a right wing group associated with the Republican Party that
sent out these laws to all the states and they were rammed through for
partisan purposes.
I`m a nonpartisan organization. I`m concerned about the voters and
I`m concerned about democracy, which is being bulldozed in an effort to
gain a partisan advantage. We know that President Obama won Pennsylvania
by 500,000 or 600,000 votes in 2008. And now, three quarters of a million
people to a million people, we think, just of registered voters, not even
counting the new people that will be trying to get registered are obviously
locked out of voting --
SMERCONISH: Thank you.
HAIR: -- unless they can balance all of these hurdles quickly.
SMERCONISH: Thank you, Penda Hair. Thank you, David Freddoso. We
appreciate your being here.
Up next, Republican Congressman Joe Walsh is still trying to make the
case that his opponent, Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, isn`t a real war
hero despite loosing her legs in Iraq. Tammy Duckworth joins us next.
This is HARDBALL, the place for politics.
SMERCONISH: President Obama has signed into a law a bill aimed to
repair the country`s crumbling roads and bridges and help college students
pay for school. The president signed the bill known as HR-4348 in the East
Room of the White House late today and was joined by construction workers
and college students. Tonight, he`s off to Camp David.
We`ll be right back.
SMERCONISH: We`re back.
Illinois Tea Party Republican Congressman Joe Walsh continues to face
criticism for comments this week about his opponent, Iraq war veteran Tammy
Here`s a portion of what he said Sunday.
REP. JOE WALSH (R), ILLINOIS: Understand something about John
McCain. His political advisers day after day had to take him, almost throw
him against the wall and hit him against the head and say, senator, you
have to let people know you served. You have to talk about what you did.
That`s what`s so noble about our heroes. Now, I`m running against a
woman who -- I mean, my God, that`s all she talks about.
SMERCONISH: Walsh has since said he believes Duckworth is a hero.
He told CNN this yesterday about those remarks.
WALSH: This wasn`t a slip up. I don`t regret anything I said.
SMERCONISH: Here to respond to her opponent is Lieutenant Colonel
Tammy Duckworth, who continues to serve in the Illinois Army National
Guard, following the loss of both her legs when her helicopter was hit in
Iraq in 2004.
Ms. Duckworth, if I were to see you on the campaign trail, if I were
to go to a coffee klatch or some campaign event, as part of your pitch or
speech about your candidacy, how much would I hear you talking about your
military service versus your platform and that what you`re looking forward
to doing?
LT. COL. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D), IL CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I actually
start all of my discussions with constituents about you all know about my
military service, but let me tell you about the time that my family was on
food stamps and my dad lost his job and how important it is for us to focus
on the economy right now.
So, you`ll hear me talk about my military service in certain ways if
I talk about health care for example. The fact is my wounds do give me an
insight to the need for good health care because my family would be
bankrupt had not I been wounded, if I had just been in a car accident.
There`s no way we could have afforded my medical bills. So --
SMERCONISH: I`ve been to your Web site. I can attest to the fact,
you know, there`s a platform, you lay out your position on at least 10
different issues. There`s a jobs plan as well.
I mean, the criticism that he offers is that this is the only thing
you discuss when you`re on the campaign trail. And you`re here to tell us
that`s absolutely not the case.
DUCKWORTH: That`s correct. You know, I think Mr. Walsh is just --
he`s being irresponsible. He`s being his usual irresponsible self.
He actually last week cast some pretty bad votes. I think he was
trying this past weekend to distract voters away from that. You`re talking
about the highway bill earlier, Michael. That`s one of the votes he cast
that was so bad.
He`s the only member of the bipartisan delegation from Illinois to
vote against the highway bill. And he also voted to let student loans
rates double.
And so this is just typical of him to be very irresponsible both in
his votes and then in his words, trying to distract people away from his
failures as a congressman.
SMERCONISH: You know what this really was problematic, I think. His
comments were appalling. His comments were absolutely appalling. I was
really disappointed that people who are sitting in the audience had an
audible reaction -- either chuckling with him or agreeing, muttering under
their breath. You know what I`m talking about. We just rolled that clip.
DUCKWORTH: Yes. You know, I think that he repeats things so much
that even if they`re not true, they start to sound true and really, again,
focusing people away from the real issue.
And in the case of veterans talking about their service, I think it`s
important that this generation of veterans who are coming home, who have
high levels of unemployment, high levels of post-traumatic stress, high
levels of homelessness and suicides, they should talk about their service
so that they can help that they need, but also so that they can tell
employers about the great leadership skills they developed in combat. The
fact that they`ve been tested and are able to do is job and pretty amazing
So, I hope that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are not muzzled the way
Vietnam veterans were. And I hope that this generation is proud and talks
about their service.
SMERCONISH: These comments, they`re not new for Joe Walsh. An
interview that we have -- that he did with "Politico" this past March, he
said this about you. Quote, "I have so much respect for what she did in
the fact she sacrificed her body for this country. Ehhh. Now let`s move
on. What else has she done? Female wounded veteran. Ehhh. She is
nothing more than a handpicked Washington bureaucrat. David Axelrod, Rahm
Emanuel just picked her up and dropped her into this district."
I think that`s more offensive than the audio that we rolled.
DUCKWORTH: Well, this is not -- you`re right, Michael. This is not
the first time that he`s attacked my military service. This is probably
the third time. I`ve been silent in my response the first two times. And
this time, it was just enough he is going after veterans.
I mean, it`s one thing to insult tome. But there are 23 million
veterans in this country who sacrifice so much. I`ve never claimed to be a
hero. The heroes are walking in Afghanistan or laying in their hospital
beds at Walter Reed right now.
It`s unfortunate he chooses to go down this route. But it`s typical
of his irresponsible way of conducting himself. And it`s just not
appropriate for a member of Congress.
SMERCONISH: We have only -- I agree with you. We need more
We have only 30 seconds left. What`s the number one issue on which
you are running?
DUCKWORTH: Jobs and the economy. We need to make sure that we go
ahead and transport that highway bill into jobs, into the districts so that
we can fix our roads and get goods and products to the market, get people
Let`s make sure we get some tax cuts for our businesses that keep
jobs here. And also the one who is hire people who have been unemployed
for more than six months.
SMERCONISH: Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Tammy Duckworth. We
appreciate your being here.
DUCKWORTH: Thank you so much.
SMERCONISH: When we return, allow me to finish with separating fact
from fiction about Barack Obama.
You`re watching HARDBALL, the place for politics.
SMERCONISH: Let me finish tonight with this. So I just finished
reading Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss` new book "Barack
Obama: The Story."
When I recently interviewed him, he told me that he spent nearly four
years researching and writing the book during which time he logged 50,000
miles, conducted close to 400 interviews and search libraries on three
continents. The result is the 600-plus-page biography and it ends with
Obama`s acceptance to the Harvard Law School -- meaning there`s more to the
While Maraniss told me that his goal was not to vet the president`s
own memoir, many readers will be tempted to focus on the contradictions
between the story and "Dreams from My Father". The bigger story is what
Maraniss` revelations say about what others missed or did not seek to find.
Time and again, where mere contentions have become the stuff of Internet
lore, Maraniss uncovers never before revealed information, including about
the president`s birth.
Not long after Obama`s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, delivered the
future president, Maraniss writes that an obstetrician/gynecologist named
Rodney T. West dined with a friend who asked, well, Dr. West tell me
something interesting that happened to you this week.
Dr. West was a colleague of David A. Sinclair, who actually delivered
Barack Obama and he responded with a quip. He said Stanley had a baby.
Now, that`s something to write about.
Well, he went on to explain that Stanley in this instance was a young
woman, of course, no miracle birth. Stanley was white, the baby was black.
The father was an African with an interesting name too.
The friend at launch was Barbara Czurles, then a journalist with the
"Star Bulletin". She shared that funny story in a letter she sent to her
own father. We never heard that during the birther debate.
In the polarized world in which we live, many will no doubt parse the
vignette in this book and reaffirm their admiration or antipathy towards
the president. Some will say it confirms a lack of vetting from 2008.
But the takeaway on which all of us should agree is that the volume
of coverage of our modern political debate should not be mistaken for
quality. If the two were synonymous, Maraniss would not have had so much
to write about with a second volume in the works. Bottom line, we`re all
paying a price for eviscerated newsrooms.
That`s HARDBALL for now. Thank you for being with us.
"POLITICS NATION" with Al Sharpton starts right now.
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There will be an Opioid Symposium on Monday night hosted by my Congressman. I just found out about it, and I'm scrambling to get facts and figures together so I have proof of the information I will be sharing with them if given the opportunity.
To begin to prepare, I called Congressman Rouzer's office to find out how the chronic pain community will be represented in this setting and what they hope to accomplish.
I spoke with someone that explained that the symposium would have four panels as it relates to opioid stigma, treatment and resources, prevention and law enforcement. Each group represented will have 2-panel experts that will talk for 30 minutes each.
She said one panelist would be a doctor from our hospital, and he "knows chronic pain."
I respectfully disagreed with her. Unless the doctor is a chronic pain warrior, he can shed no light on the physical and emotional life transitions that being in pain 24/7 brings.
Knowledge of the disease does not portray us. Having pain now and then does not describe us. He cannot begin to understand the suffering of chronic pain with chronic illnesses unless he has lived with it. He cannot represent us on this subject.
She explained to me that it is a complicated discussion and "unfortunately, everything could not be heard in the 2 hours allotted to the discussion," and that is why no one that has pain is sharing our chronic pain perspective for us. That is unacceptable that we are not part of the equation of the future of opioids, and I intend to change that in the future symposiums.
She became silent when I asked her if Congressman's Rouzer knew that people are losing the will to live and some lose the chronic pain battle to suicide because the suffering is too high because of the recent changes with opioids.
Her ultimate response was that I needed to have a meeting with his office. They want to hear my perspective which is a beginning.
What are your thoughts as a person of pain about the lack of representation at this event for people with chronic pain?
If you have been negatively affected by this lack of proper treatment or you know of someone that committed suicide because of the untreated physical pain they are in, please send me the information by my Contact Form so I can share with the people that will be shaping the chronic pain communities' future. Alternatively, email to email@example.com
It does not matter if you live in my district or even in the United States. I want to hear your stories so that I can take this information as far as possible. I will keep it anonymous if requested.
Much Love and Many Prayers
If you are struggling with living each day with chronic pain, if you wake up and you think to yourself, you cannot do it again…You can. Just keep going.


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"100% Committed," New Era, Mar. 2013, 5
100% Committed
Julia A. Oldroyd lives in Utah, USA.
For my brother-in-law, 99% just wasn't good enough.
My brother-in-law, Taylor, works in Washington, D.C., for the United States Department of Agriculture. As part of his job, he is expected to attend a number of social functions. These functions almost always have alcohol served to the guests. The people who work with Taylor know of his religious beliefs and commitment to abstain from all alcoholic beverages, and they will often thoughtfully provide something else to drink in their place.
At one particular function, someone had brought a few beverages that claimed to be alcohol free. Taylor was offered one of these drinks, but since the brand and type of drink were unfamiliar to him, he said in a friendly manner, "I'll have to check that label first."
Taylor read the fine print on the bottle, and sure enough, the drink contained a small amount of alcohol. "Look," Taylor said, "it has alcohol in it."
The person who had offered the drink said, "Let me see that!" After looking for a minute, he turned to Taylor and pointed at the label. "Taylor, it has only 1% alcohol. Can't you even drink that?"
Not wanting to offend his friend, yet not willing to compromise his standards, Taylor replied, "Well, when you're 100% committed, 99% just isn't good enough." He thanked them for trying to accommodate him but turned down the drink.
I have thought of this experience many times and reevaluated my personal commitment to live the gospel. Whenever I am tempted to give a half-hearted effort or anything less than my best, I remember that I am 100% committed and that anything less than that just isn't good enough.


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Tagged: Kayaking
A Brief All Star Break Interlude and the Bay Area Baseball Extravaganza Trip Begins
What's that you say? No baseball this week. Well, fine then. We'll go on vacation and make our own fun:
Okay, so some of you live for the All-Star game. Me, I appreciate the concept and love to see the interviews and interactions surrounding it, but just can never get into the game itself, except as background noise. Honestly I think it's because the players switch in and out with such frequency that it seems like a completely different game every other inning or so – patchwork baseball rather than a continuous game. Maybe with less players, such that everyone remained in the game longer, I'd like it more.
With this attitude of mine, and the fact that Thursday was a travel day for the haloed ones, it was fortuitous that the beginning of Seth's and my vacation fell within this dead period. Yes, I am posting this from the road on our Bay Area Baseball Extravaganza trip! It's a long drive from Los Angeles to Oakland though, and realizing that the friends we are staying with are not on vacation, we decided to stop over at my inlaws' beach house in Cambria for a few days first and then complete the drive on Friday.
Cambria is a small town just north of San Luis Obispo and just south of San Simeon of Hearst's Castle fame. It's our usual base of operations for our regular excursions into Paso Robles wine country, just not this trip. If you've ever read any of the smart, delightful lunacy that is Christopher Moore – and if you haven't you should 😉 – Cambria is Pine Cove. Literally. The author used to live here. Okay, so there are no lust lizards or zombie Santa Clauses but the shops and many of the locals do fit the descriptions. Behold, the local gas station and car wash with a better wine selection than many wine shops in Los Angeles:
…But I digress. We left Los Angeles late after work on Wednesday, arrived in Cambria around 3 a.m. Thursday – seriously Caltrans, just because it's "Car-mageddon" this week doesn't mean you also need to start work on every single construction project on the docket, okay – and were on the water in San Simeon Bay by 11 a.m. This is a great way to start a vacation. I love ocean kayaking, especially surrounded by all of this loveliness:
William Randolph Hearst had the original pier built to bring supplies to his "humble abode" which he just referred to as "the Ranch." Some ranch! I highly recommend a tour if you are ever in this part of the world. Interesting side note about Hearst. Did you know that he played baseball as a young man? A Hearst's Castle tour guide once told me that when Hearst went away to boarding school back east, he and a few other boys in his class weren't interested in the sports the school offered, so they introduced their peers to baseball. Hearst was also the newspaper editor who first published Ernest Thayer's famous Casey at the Bat when he wasn't off furnishing wars and the like, of course. Pretty cool stuff.
This morning, to cap off our brief Cambria stay, we rode our bikes up California's famous Highway One from Cambria to San Simeon Bay and back again. Sixteen miles of rolling hills, clear blue sky and gorgeous ocean views, not to mention taking in the clean, briny smell of the ocean with each breath. It was the perfect way to pass the time until our games start up again this evening.
And now, I return you to your regularly scheduled baseball programming. The All Star Break is over, even for the Angels, today and we are packing up the car for the next leg of our trip to Oakland, to visit good friends and enjoy great baseball. Next post: the A's vs. Angels double header on Saturday. I can't wait!


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Jana Bennett, the new President for BBC Worldwide Networks and Global iPlayer, said:
Torchwood: Miracle Day is a courageous and exciting piece of drama which will resonate with audiences all over the world. I'm genuinely delighted that Torchwood will add to UKTV's compelling selection of first-run drama in 2011.Julie Dowding, Sales Director for BBC Worldwide Australia, added:
Torchwood: Miracle Day is set to be one of the most exciting dramas we've brought to Australia this year. UKTV audiences and Torchwood fans alike are in for a huge treat with this latest chapter from Captain Jack and the team.


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Watch Kamen (2012) full movie online, download Kamen (2012) full length HD and watch Kamen (2012) streaming online for free.
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In September 2011, ahead of the anticipated surge in electric vehicle (EV) deployment, The Climate Group created the Electric Vehicle Policy Initiative (EVPI)—a forum for leading sub-national governments to share experiences, lessons learned and best practices on the development of electric vehicle policies.
Throughout 2012, group participants met virtually to identify the most critical issues facing their governments in regard to EV policy, to share experiences and ideas for engaging consumers on EVs, and to discuss EV financing and infrastructure. This report summarizes the findings.
The Initiative functions as a working group of The Climate Group's States and Regions Alliance, and is led by the government of Quebec, with participation from the sub-national governments of the Basque Country, Bavaria, British Columbia, Brittany, California, Manitoba, New York, North Rhine-Westphalia, Ontario, Québec, São Paulo and Saxony.


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Invasive species are of signi?cant concern, especially in mega-diverse countries, because they cause negative e?ects such as loss of native biodiversity, ecological alterations, disease spread, and impacts on economic development and human health. In mainland Ecuador, information on invasive invertebrates in marine ecosystems is scarce. The objective of this study was to describe and locate the invasive species present in the rocky shores of the intertidal and subtidal zones along 10 areas (83 sites) covering most of the Ecuadorian coast during 2015–2016.
St. Helena Island, 122 km2 (47 sq. miles) is a UK Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. It is a remote volcanic island situated in the sub-tropics 1,127 km (700 miles) from Ascension Island and 2,736 km (1,700 miles) from South Africa. Its resident population of ca. 4,500 is serviced by a single supply ship which visits up to 25 times a year. Isolation has acted historically as a natural barrier to pest arrival and border control has followed the conventional practice of protecting agricultural interests through restrictions on fresh produce, plant materials, livestock and pets.
Prior to 2008 there were few invasive alien species (IAS) initiatives operating in Scotland on a scale required for e?ective control. The establishment of the Biosecurity and Invasive Non-Native Species Programme by the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland was the ?rst attempt to link local e?orts with national IAS strategy on scales appropriate to the e?ective control of target species. The programme worked with 26 local ?sheries trusts to produce biosecurity plans that covered over 90% of Scotland's rivers and lochs.
In July 2016, the European Union adopted a list of invasive alien species of concern, and at present there are two freshwater ?sh species on the list. Member states are obliged to prevent further spread and to perform rapid eradication when problem species are discovered at new sites, but continental EU member states have limited experience with eradication of ?sh. Eradications are more likely to succeed if the invasive species is con?ned to insular habitats.
The North American signal cray?sh (Pacifastacus leniusculus) has been present in Scotland since at least 1995 and the species is now known to be present in a number of catchments. Once established, few opportunities for containment exist and eradication can often be impossible to achieve. However, in small, isolated water bodies, the application of a non-cray?sh-speci?c biocide has provided the opportunity to remove this species permanently. In July 2011, signal cray?sh were discovered in a ?ooded quarry pond at Ballachulish in the Scottish Highlands.
During the 45 years that the Raoul Island weed eradication programme has been underway, eleven species have been eradicated. To complete the restoration of Raoul Island's unique ecosystems supporting signi?cant seabird biodiversity and endemic biota, nine further transformer weeds must be eradicated. In this review of progress to date, we examine the feasibility of eradication of these transformers and identify that four species are on target for eradication: African olive (Olea europaea subsp.
The invasive tree Miconia calvescens (Melastomataceae) is a priority for control on the Hawaiian Island of O?ahu due to its potential to replace native ??hi?a (Metrosideros polymorpha, Myrtaceae) forests and degrade watershed function if allowed to establish. The O?ahu Invasive Species Committee (OISC) is attempting to eradicate this species from the island of O?ahu. OISC uses a bu?er strategy based on estimated seed dispersal distance to determine the area under surveillance. This strategy has worked well enough to suppress the number of trees reaching reproductive age.
The South Georgia ecosystem-based habitat restoration project is a major project that began with the eradication of invasive rats (Rattus norvegicus) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), 2011–2017. As part of this restoration programme a non-native plant management strategy was developed and implemented. With only 8% of the whole South Georgia landmass suitable for vascular plants (ca. 283 km²) due to permanent ice and bare rock, there have been 25 indigenous vascular plants and 41 non-native plants recorded from earlier surveys.
Invasive alien ornamental plants are a global problem, especially on oceanic islands, and can have severe impacts on native biodiversity. Pinanga coronata, is an ornamental palm tree that can form mono-dominant stands in its native habitat and is widely cultivated throughout the tropics. Here we investigate the introduction, spread, impact and management of this invasive palm in the Fiji Islands, using extensive discussions with local experts and ?eld surveys.
Biological invasions are one of the major threats to biodiversity, especially on islands where the number of endemic species is the highest despite their small area. In the Canary Islands, the relationships among invasive alien species (hereafter IAS) and their environmental and anthropogenic determinants have been thoroughly described but robust provisional models integrating species spatial autocorrelation and patterns of IAS communities are still lacking.


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By Elizabeth Dinan
Hampton Union, Sunday, January 20, 2013
[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online.]
Pamela Smart, one of the world's most infamous inmates, is being urged by a group of supporters to petition the new governor of New Hampshire for a chance at parole, said Eleanor Pam, a self-described "strong advocate" for Smart.
"Those who are her supporters, including and especially me, are eager for her to appeal to the new governor through the New Hampshire Executive Council," Pam said. "We are hopeful, and do believe, that the governor will be open to reviewing the facts of the case fairly and that Pamela will finally receive relief from endless, cruel and pointless suffering behind bars for an act she did not commit."
But according to a spokesman for New Hampshire's newly elected Gov. Maggie Hassan, any request from Smart for a pardon is a long shot.
Smart, now 45, is incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York for enlisting her teenage lover William "Billy" Flynn, and three of his friends, to kill her husband Gregory on May 1, 1990. During a jailhouse interview with Seacoast Media Group eight years ago, Smart said she regretted her affair with Flynn, the confessed trigger man, but turned to him because she was flattered by the schoolboy's attention.
A media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School at the time of her husband's murder, Smart said during the SMG interview that if she had planned to kill her husband, which she denied, the plot wouldn't have involved teenagers.
Pam, her advocate, said last week that she's certain Smart "has not been involved, either directly or indirectly, as an accessory in the murder of her husband." She said she's been "urging" Smart to petition Hassan for parole, adding that, "when the time is appropriate, I believe she will, in accordance with counsel, pursue this option."
A message seeking Hassan's comment last week was returned by her spokesman, Marc Goldberg, who said, "Gov. Hassan feels that a pardon should only be considered in instances where there has been a clear miscarriage of justice."
"In this case," he said, "the governor believes Pamela Smart was justly and fairly convicted for her crimes by a jury of her peers and that there has never been credible information presented to warrant consideration of a pardon."
A majority of the Executive Council could grant Smart access to a parole board, but state law gives the governor veto power over the council.
In 2005, Smart petitioned for commutation of her life-without-parole sentence. At the time, Gov. John Lynch was quoted saying, "I do believe that Pamela Smart's crimes were brutal. She was fairly convicted by a jury of New Hampshire citizens and she was fairly sentenced." The Executive Council followed Lynch's lead by voting unanimously to deny Smart a pardon hearing, which would have released her from prison with time served. That denial followed several failed appeals, during which Smart argued she didn't receive a fair trial because of the massive media attention her trial attracted.
Flynn, who was 16 when he shot Gregory Smart in the head with a .38-caliber handgun, is now 38 years old. He was convicted for second-degree murder, a reduction from first-degree murder, in exchange for his cooperation with the prosecution of Smart.
While behind bars, Flynn earned a GED and an electrician's apprentice license, and married a former executive assistant to the Wiscasset, Maine, superintendent of schools. Incarcerated in Maine, he's eligible for parole on June 4, 2015, according to Jeffrey Lyons of the N.H. Department of Corrections.
Co-defendant Patrick "Pete" Randall, 39, who restrained Gregory Smart in his Derry condo while Flynn pulled the trigger, is also incarcerated in Maine. In 2009, he appeared before Rockingham Superior Court Judge Kenneth McHugh, where he was described as remorseful, matured and having accepted responsibility for the crime. Through attorney Mark Stevens, Randall successfully petitioned the court for a 3-year reduction of his minimum 25-year sentence, making him eligible for parole in 2015.
Stevens also represented codefendant Vance "J.R." Lattime Jr., now 39, who provided the getaway car and handgun used during the murder. He was convicted for burglary and being an accomplice to murder and released from prison on Aug. 8, 2005. Lattime is now under supervised parole out of Exeter, said Lyons, and his parole expires May 23, 2060.
Raymond Fowler, now 41, who drove the getaway car from the murder scene, was released from prison April 21, 2003. Lyons said Fowler's parole ends on July 23, 2013.


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Vegan Roasted Plum and Marjoram Puttanesca "Hamburger" Helper
I have a shameful addiction I'm just going to let off my chest right now.
I am a Food Network crack whore.
I know, I know. I have to avert my eyes from the television more times than I care to acknowledge whenever Paula Deen makes love to the camera with her demon-like eyes before placing raw meat in her cast iron skillet. Their lack of Vegan, even vegetarian friendliness, is more than appalling. But something about that damn channel fascinates me. Most of the time, I just leave the television on as I shimmy about my kitchen. As I listen, I learn. And during more than one culinary experiment in my kitchen, I've spoken aloud and even tossed about witty banter as if a camera and audience were 10 away.
Go ahead and laugh at me now. I'm a geek's dream date.
Done? Ok.
Occasionally, The Food Network airs programming about eating contests. I can't say I've really payed close attention to many of them, but I do know that it's usually the tiniest of the bunch that can miraculously slam down 10,000 coconut cream pies. Right now, I really regret not giving those shows a closer look. Well, not really the shows, per se. But they have to air some kind of behind the scenes reality-show style training tips like the Olympics, right? If a 100 pound girl can eat 500 donuts, she definitely doesn't just wait to compete until PMS hits. She's doing something to prepare!
Why the deep remorse? I'm writing this post from the city of San Francisco, which has more delicious Vegan dining options than my body has room to accommodate. True, I am one tiny little fucker. But I can EAT. I feel like I need to develop a solid pre-San Fran training regimen that would allow my body to eat double it's typical amount. I usually only spend 3-4 days here, and I never leave for Los Angeles feeling like I've conquered enough of my "must try" list. I either need to condition my stomach to expand twice it's normal size, or start smoking weed again.
I do, however, always leave San Francisco firmly remembering why I love to cook. Two days ago, I enjoyed the pleasure of my second annual birthday dinner at Millennium Restaurant. While everything I've ever tasted there has been more of a gastronomic experience than a meal, this visit definitely one-upped the last. They had a special seasonal tasting menu with a Morel Mushroom dish listed, and I knew I had to taste it. I bat my long blonde lashes at the waitress and sweet-talked my way into asking the chef if I'd be allowed to order that one plate off the tasting menu. Let's just say at least my flirtation skills are more finely tuned than my stomach's food capacity. My palate was spoiled rotten.
Ike's Place was also every ounce as amazing as Quarrygirl divulged on her blog. It made for a perfect lunch before marching my Queer little ass around San Fran for the rest of the day. I still have 24 hours left in this fair city, and I plan to hop on the plane tomorrow morning looking pregnant. I will eat my regrets away.
Anyway, my recipe. My lady unexpectedly had the day off from work on my "Blog Cooking Day" last week. I told her that my day was mostly free, but I needed to spend a few hours in the kitchen that morning. "What are you making?", she asked. "It's like a fancy Vegan version of Hamburger Helper. Have you ever had Pasta Puttanesca?".
"Puttanesca. It's kind of Italian for Whore's Pasta."
"What? You're really gross sometimes".
"No. Seriously. Go on Google and look it up. During trying times in Italy, the Brothels were owned by their government. The sex workers were given very little time to shop or cook food, and this dish became well known because they could throw it together quickly. That's why I'm making it today. I want us to have time to hang out."
"Are you calling yourself a whore?"
"Get out of the kitchen. I'll be done in an hour or two".
Well, if I am really a whore, even a Food Network crack whore, at least I have a healthy hobby.
Roasted Plum and Marjoram Puttanesca "Hamburger" Helper
For the Pasta and Sauce...
- 1 Pound Dried Conchiglle Pasta
- 1 Large Red Plum
- 1 1/2 Pounds Canned Pureed Tomatoes (Pomi brand are my favorite)
- 2-3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
- 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
- 3 Sprigs Fresh Marjoram
- 1/2 Pound Large Black Olives, pitted and quartered
- 4 TBSP Capers, drained + 1 TBSP Reserved Caper Brine
- 1 TBSP Red Miso Paste
- 2 TBSP Tomato Paste
- 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
- Dr. Cow's Cheese or Vegan Parmesan, grated (optional)
For the Ground "Beef"
- 1 batch Beef Style Seitan (recipe follows), ground in a food processor (Or 1 12oz package frozen Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Sausage Crumbles)
- 1-2 TBSP Olive Oil
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/4 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Dried Basil
- 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
- Pinch of Spanish Smoked Paprika
- 2 TBSP Water
First, roast the Plum.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Halve the plum, remove the pit and squeeze a lemon over top of it. Line a small baking dish with foil, and place the plum halves inside with cut side facing upward. Place about 1/4-1/2 tsp Vegan Margarine atop each half, then bake 35-45 minutes until completely softened. Set aside to cool.
Next, make the Ground "Beef".
Note: If you're using pre-packaged "Beef" Crumbles, be sure to defrost them before browning in the skillet.
Place the Olive Oil in a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the ground "Beef", Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Dried Basil, Dried Oregano, and Paprika . Cook until the "Beef" is begins to brown, then add the water to the skillet to deglaze. Continue cooking until the "Beef" is browned and heated through. Remove from heat and set aside.
Lastly, make the Sauce and Pasta.
Begin a large pot of salted water boiling for cooking the Conchiglle pasta.
Combine the 1 TBSP of Red Miso Paste with the 1 TBSP of Caper Brine, and stir until the Miso Paste is completely dissolved. Set aside. (This is meant to take the place of Anchovies an authentic Puttanesca recipe.)
Heat the 1/2 cup of Olive Oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, then add minced Garlic and Marjoram Sprigs. Saute about 30 seconds. Add the Pureed Tomatoes to the Oil and Garlic, then the Olives, Miso/Brine mix, Capers and Tomato Paste. Stir in the Red Pepper Flakes, then taste for Salt and Pepper.
Lower the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the sprigs of Marjoram, then add the cooked ground "Beef" to the sauce. Simmer for an additional 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat.
Cook the Conchiglle pasta in the large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain well, toss with a touch of Olive Oil, then mix with the Sauce and "Beef" crumbles.
Serve garnished with Dr. Cows or Vegan Parmesan (optional).
"Beef" Seitan Dough:
- 1 1/2 cups Vital Wheat Gluten
- 1 1/2 cups Water
- 1 tsp Better Than Bouillon® No Beef Broth paste (not diluted in H20)
- 2 TBSP MimicCremeTM (or Alternative, pg 33)
- 8 cups prepared Better Than Bouillon® No Beef Broth (8 tsp paste diluted in 8 cups water)
- 6 dried Shitake Mushrooms
- 1/8 cup Tamari
- 1 Portobello Mushroom Cap, chopped
- 1 TBSP Garlic Powder
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 2 Bay Leaves
First, add all of the Seitan Broth ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil. While it's heating up, using a stand mixer, mix together all of the Seitan Dough ingredients. Don't over-mix...just let the mixer go until it's all combined. The dough should be softer than usual.
Using your hands, mold the dough into a large ball. Flatten the ball out on a cutting board, and use a sharp knife or kitchen shears to cut into six pie- wedge shaped pieces. Drop into the boiling broth. Let it cook for about 1 hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Using tongs, remove the "beef" from the broth, and place in a colander to drain. Allow to cool until ready to use.


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Essence 8 ft. x 12 ft. Silver Polycarbonate Greenhouse
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SCF Securities said Thursday that it attracted a team of four independent advisors based in Portland, Ore., and formerly affiliated with Walnut Street Securities.
The hybrid team, which does business as Summit Financial Strategies, was set to become affilliated with Cetera Financial Group of El Segundo, Calif., in the near future. Cetera—led by Valerie Brown—struck a deal in early April to buy both Walnut Street and Tower Square Securities from MetLife (MET), and the acquisition should be completed over the next three months.
The new SCF-affiliated team—which includes Brett Langer, Keith Bandettini, Will Gingell and Beverly Cox—manages about $145 million in client assets. With the new group, Fresno-based SCF now has more than 140 affiliated reps and $1 billion in client assets under management.
"SCF has set themselves apart by making a complicated business simple—not only for us advisors, but for clients, as well," said Langer, in a press release. "It's nice to deal with a BD that cares about us as individuals and not just about our revenue."
According to Langer and other Summit advisors, transition support was a key factor in the team's decision to switch BDs. "Everyone at SCF has been great in walking the walk. They don't just talk the talk," Cox said in a statement. "SCF is customer service-oriented and so very helpful. Transitioning isn't an easy process, but SCF made it feel easy."
Naturally, executives at SCF are pleased, as well. "We are excited to welcome the Summit group to the SCF family. Brett and his team are extremely talented financial professionals who align perfectly with the values and culture of our boutique firm," said SCF President & CEO Randy Meadows, in a release. "We could not have found a better fit."
When it announced the acquistion last month, Cetera said it hoped to add more than 800 representatives and $25 billion in assets with the acquisition of Walnut Street and Tower Square. Once the deal is complete, Cetera expects to have a total of 7,000-plus advisors and over $130 billion in assets.
Read Cetera Buying Fellow IBDs Tower Square, Walnut Street From MetLife on AdvisorOne.